Together We Break
by ArtemisHunter1123
Summary: One of Agency X's worst enemies is back and with a vengeance. When they are kidnapped, Nightshade must help to save them.
1. Chased

_**Together We Break**_

**Chapter One: Chased**

I walked down the alleyway with my head down. When I was halfway down, I heard men following her. I turned. There were six men, acting like they were the predators. Cubs. Have no idea who I am, do they? Well, they better not. I'll have to remove them immediately.

"Hey baby, you want some fun?" asked one of the men. No, boys. They're boys. The cub who talked looked at the others of his little wannabe pack. I've seen wolf cubs hunt better. And look cuter.

"From you?" I laughed, "Hell no you little boys. Now why don't you run back to you mamas?" That should piss them off. It did.

The Lead Cub looked flustered and the others angry. I hit a massive nerve. Good. "You bitch! We'll kill you but before we're gonna have a lot of fun" shrieked the Leader Cub. Sweet, merciful Dark Goddess, I was sick of this boy's voice already. The leader came at me and I countered with a turning kick, hitting the cub in the gut. Another pulled out a knife, whilst another pulled out a Glock semi-automatic. I punched Knife Cub in the jaw on the left side with my right, and roundhouse kicked Gun Cub in the head with my left. Three down, three to go. I tackled one into a wall and his head smacked against it hard. One more got a front kick to the groin and the last cub got a side kick and a double punch for good measure.

I looked over at my handiwork. I saw a man at the other end of the alleyway. He was wearing a hoodie so I couldn't get a look at his face. He stared right at me. In the back of my mind, I realised that he was studying me and my moves. Huh. I gave the man a hard look and slowly walked off into the street. It was cold, and therefore tugged my black cotton hoodie down further to hide my face. After walking for about a minute I saw Hoodie Man in a reflection off a window. First studying me and now following me? What in the Underworld in this pup up to? I walked into a lingerie store. I started to finger through some of the smaller sizes, watching Hoodie Pup walk into the store and turning his head trying to find me through the throngs of women and the occasional man. Soon I walked out the warm store and into the freezing street. I hate the cold. I do much better in boiling temperatures, from living in Egypt for a while. Which is weird because I was born in Canada when it was snowing. Well, if you guys can figure it out please tell me. I picked up the pace of the walking. By now, I'm pretty sure the guy had figured out that I knew that he was my new best stalkerie friend. Fantastic.

I turned a corner and so did he. I was tempted to walk down another alley; by I think he's sort of expecting that. After five minutes a car pulled up next to my stalker friend. Help? The man who got out was Asian with scars and wearing a grey jacket, what appeared to be body armour and bright orange glasses. How conspicuous. Glasses started arguing with Hoodie. Hoodie sounded pissed but I couldn't hear any words, only voices but the tones were hard. There were tons of voices around us but I could tell. I'd recognise anywhere. Having conversations with Logan and Victor taught me. I hid in a doorway and watched the two men argue. Once I figured out that they weren't going to finish soon, I quickly darted out and continued down the street.

Ten minutes afterwards, I looked behind me and saw no Hoodie. Good. I went to the apartment and got into my room. The richer neighbours gave me glare, turned their noses up at me but no-one talked to me. Great. Today is going great! I checked the clock. It was 11:30pm. I walked up to my apartment on the third floor and opened the fifth door. Cerberus rushed me as soon as I entered.

"Come on boy! Give me some space and I'll get some food" I told him. He barked and danced around happily. I got some meat from the fridge and put it on three plates. Cerberus' three heads ate the meat in seconds. Yeah, my dog's not just named Cerberus, he's the actual Cerberus. Ya' know, son of Typhon and Echidna-

**(Spikey!)**

"Hey, where were you? Where's Bright Dragon?" I asked. I sometimes lose track of my voices. Big deal.

_(*Cue my awesome entrance music!*)_

I rolled my eyes. Is it crazy to ask for better voices?

**(Probably)**

I nodded while I got a microwave dinner out and put it in the microwave. I pressed a few buttons and the microwave lit up, while my dinner span around. I watched it and so did Cerberus. Speaking of Cerberus, he the Cerberus you hear about in the Greek and Roman myths. He's the Guardian to the Gates of the Underworld. Well he was. After I was born I was really sick ya know? My mum took down there too. That's where I met Cerberus. Shadow Dragon and Bright Dragon were there too Becoming their host started a low degree of my healing factor and saved my life. It also changed my brown hair and eyes to a silver white colour. That pretty much tells everyone 'Mutant here! Please try to kill me!' To stop that I tend to dye my hair. I look damn good as a redhead. Why the hell did I tell you all that? Meh, doesn't matter. I finished my dinner and put the rubbish in the bin.

Me and Cerberus sit on the couch and flick through the channels. Deciding there nothing good enough to watch, I slowly went to bed. After getting changed to some old ratty 'jammies, I laid under the sheets and Cerberus jumps on top of the cover and snuggled next to me. I put my arm around him and fall off to sleep.

I felt a tug which woke me up from a dreamless and nightmare-less sleep. I opened my eyes. Cerberus' right head was tugging on my sleeve. I groggily sit up and look at my clock. It said 3:32. I groaned. "What is it boy?" I asked whilst yawning.

**(Maybe he wants food?)**

_(*Does he want us to meet his girlfriend?*)_

"Cerberus can open the fridge and he doesn't have a girlfriend" I answered. I looked at him, "Do you?" Cerberus moved all three heads. The left hit the middle when trying to shake his head side to side, and the right nodded. I grinned, "Cery has a squeeze!" Cerberus barked and I laughed.

He grabbed my sleeve again and dragged me to the window. I peeked out and saw lights from helicopters and police vans outside of the apartment building. They were evacuating everyone else, all the rich people and I believed that I saw several SHIELD vehicles. Across the street I thought I saw Hoodie from yesterday. Damnit, does he have anything to do with this?

**(Possibly. He could be SHIELD or CIA or FBI…)**

_(*Could be another merc pissed that we tend to get more of the high profile jobs*)_

I closed the curtains and got changed into my warm merc outfit. It's a slimmer version of Ezio Auditore da Firenze's brown furry Assassin uniform. There was also plenty of places to hide my guns, knives and any other awesome goodies. I loaded and cleaned my guns, swords and knives. As I was putting them in their place, someone from outside spoke on a megaphone "NIGHTSHADE, WE'RE GIVING YOU THIS CHANCE TO GIVE UP PEACEFULLY. IF YOU DO NOT EXIT THE BUILDING WITHIN FIVE MINUTES, WE WILL SEND PEOPLE UP TO TAKE YOU OUT OF THERE. YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES". I rolled my eyes. Me come out there? They come in here? I know bullshit when I smell it and Almighty Dark Goddess, do I smell it.

Cerberus snuggled next to me and moved his heads in the general direction of the window with the ladder outside. I grinned and patted him on his heads. I ran to the window, pushed it up and climbed out. I checked below. Dumbasses. No-one was there. Great!

**(Es-cap-eh!)**

_(*Its escape not es-cap-eh!*)_

I've seen Finding Nemo wayyy too much. Or is it Finding Emo? Whatever. I jumped down and ran down the alley. Goddess, I've been near too many damn alleys. Need to stop. Okay, tomorrow (Later today?) I'm going on an alley diet. If I can help it. I turned a corner and quickly hid behind a building. Damnit, I underestimated them. There were cops, agents and costumes waltzing around here. Thank all of the Goddesses everywhere that my outfit has a hoodie, which is sewn onto the back of the costume. I tugged it down and quickly walked across the street. I went into a 24 hour café and ordered a short black and a donut. Tasty. I gave some of the donuty parts to Cerberus, not the chocolate parts. Even though Cery is immortal, he doesn't like chocolate. He does like caramel though. I sipped on my coffee while the overly perky Southern waitress started to talk into my ear.

"They're looking for that killer ya know? His name's Nightshade I think" said the waitress, pouring more coffee into my cup.

His? Goddess why does everyone think I'm a guy? Well I guess it's because I bind my breasts. But do you know how hard it is to run without binding them? Painful. "Well, I heard somewhere that Nightshade's a woman" I replied taking a swig of my black coffee.

The waitress' eyebrows rose. "Really? Where did ya hear that?" she said.

I shrugged "Dunno, somewhere I guess". Cerberus snuggled next to my leg and I patted him. Boy am I glad that Cery can shapeshift into other forms of himself. It tends to be sizes and the amount of heads. Still glad. I wonder if the woman's figured out that I'm wearing an outfit that seems to have appeared in the video game Assassin's Creed. I'm terrible at it; in an hour I had already died as least fifty times, from falling off of buildings. I finished my food and I with Cerberus left. I walked down the street quickly and saw a few people who weren't cops. These obviously law abiding citizens were trying to distance themselves from the cops as soon as possible. If I was them I probably would've too. Except I wasn't. For that I am very glad. I walked down a few streets with Cerberus trailing behind, when I noticed that Hoodie from yesterday following me. I recognised the scent. He started to walk faster when he realised I recognised him. I walk faster as well and went around a sharp corner. I walked faster down there and used my telepathic power to imagine some beggar clothes and utilised my telekinetic powers to form them. Don't ask me how; I don't know how it exactly works. It just does. I sat down in the rubbish and rubbed some dirt on me and Cerberus. I then waited. Sure enough, Hoodie comes barrelling down the alley and looks around. Guess I failed my alley diet, huh?

**(Damn straight!)**

Hoodie turns to me. Does he recognise me? "Did you see a woman in brown clothes with fur walk down here?" he fired at me. Guess he doesn't. I shrugged and curled up as if I was going to sleep. Hoodie growled and stormed off. I yawned. I knew I had to get out of here fast, but I also knew that my adrenaline shot from before was wearing off. Cerberus curled up next to me and I automatically knew he was tired and wanted sleep. It's this bonding thing. I will always know what he's saying. Well, to other people he's barking. I don't speak dog. I only speak Cerberus. It's awesome. The bonding thing also lets me sense his emotions and thoughts. It's also a two way thing. He always knows my emotions and my thoughts too. I yawned again and closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I felt something tug on my rag sleeve. Déjà vu. I opened my eyes and saw a young woman with auburn-y hair and kind eyes. I said ever-so-intelligently "Huh?"

She smiled "Hi, my name's Sandi. What's yours?"

I automatically said Temperance. I technically I wasn't lying. Temperance is one of my middle names. This girl smiled again. Cerberus woke up and looked around. He saw Sandi and walked around to get a sniff. I personally didn't think she smelled too bad. Cerberus sniffed and rolled on my leg. That was are our signal that the person who was sniffed could be trusted. "My name's not Temperance. I lied. It's Ariana Howlett. Or better known as Nightshade" I blurted out. I needed to tell someone. I trusted someone who woke me up just a minute ago with one of my biggest secrets, a secret that I haven't even told my sister. Sandi looked surprised and was silent.

When she spoke again, I was very surprised "How would you like to have a job?"

I blinked for a bit. I grinned. "Nothing that involves tons of paperwork".


	2. I Broke My Working Alone Rule

**Together We Break**

****Chapter Two: I Broke My Working Alone Rule****

I walked into Agency X. I surveyed the place and looked for exit routes, if they're required. "We just moved from an abandoned amusement park, so we haven't unpacked all of the boxes yet" Sandi said.

I nodded. "You mind keeping the Nightshade thing close to your chest for the minute? I just don't wanna reveal all my cards yet. If anyone asks, I'm a friend that they've never seen or heard about".

She nodded. "The other people here are Alex and Inez. Sometimes Taskmaster and Deadpool drop around too".

I leaned my head back and sniffed the air. I knew Sandi was looking at me crazy, but meh. My narration, my weirdness. I smelled about five different scents. One was Sandi, another was Deadpool, a female one I guessed was the Inez person and two I recognised from yesterday. I snapped my head back to Sandi, "Does Taskmaster or Alex wear a hoodie or incredibly conspicuous orange glasses?"

"Er, Taskmaster wears the hoodie and Alex wears the glasses. Why?" she asked. I told about the past day. Before she could answer however, I heard someone near the door. Alex and Inez I think. I put a finger to my lips and speedwalked my way to the bathroom. Instead of opening the door I used my shadow magic to dissipate into shadow and move through the door. I think that how it goes. I don't remember. Cerberus followed me and I changed into some jeans and a black office shirt. I flushed the toilet and used water to clean me and Cerberus. After that I plaited my hair and prepared to go outside. I heard Alex and Inez greet Sandi and her explaining the noise in the bathroom. I came outside and saw the Asian man from yesterday and a woman with blonde hair with a few plaits. Huh, we like our hair the same way. I just did a normal single plait because it was easier and faster. The woman was wearing a brown leather revealing outfit, a cowboy hat and cowboy boots. Was this girl Southern? I thought I heard a Southern accent.

_(*I would be very surprised if she wasn't*)_

I looked around. I didn't know what to do, so I waved and said 'Hi'. They looked at me like I had grown a tail and I saw Sandi facepalm. I gave her a healthy death stare. Cerberus trailed along and started sniffing people. Inez the Cowgirl bent down and gave him a good hard pat. He loves them. He rolled over and she laughed and gave him a back scratch. Damn. In Cery's book, this girl can do no wrong. Alex gave a little wave, looked very uncomfortable and started looking through boxes. Sandi shrugged. I heard another person at the door. Hoodie walked in and un-hooded himself. Guess this was Taskmaster. He was wearing a metal skull mask and a dark blue outfit. I could tell he wore a bulletproof vest underneath his clothes. Cautious cub. I think he recognised me because he stopped in his tracks when he saw me. He kept his eye on me while he talked to Sandi. I think they dated. And I think Sandi was the one who finished the relationship. Maybe he was too damn attached to that stupid looking mask of his. Whatever the outcome I know two things for sure. One; Sandi was a strong woman and I liked her. Definitely Black Wolves material. I should offer her an invitation when this was finished. Maybe Inez too. Two; There were still feelings in this relationship. Well, on Taskmaster's side.

I decided to watch some TV, so I sat on the couch and Cerberus joined me. He sat next to me, looking very proper. I started to flick through channels and Cery laid his head on my lap. I heard Sandi giving Tasky the lie I asked her to tell.

**(Wonder if we can call him that?)**

_(*Don't think so. He might he a tantie*)_

**(A temper tantie?)**

_(*Of course. Is there any other kind of tantie?*)_

I settled on a documentary while everyone else worked through the boxes. They pretty much ignored me and I did the same until they asked me to carry stuff or sort files out. At the end of the day, I went home with Sandi. She set up another room for me with a spare bed. I liked Sandi's taste in furniture and paint. My room was crimson with a dark oak framed single bed with a light green and white striped quilt cover that was decorated with leaves as well. I borrowed some clothes from Sandi because I was too stuffed and could not be bothered making telepathic/telekinetic clothes. They were a wee bit tight when it came to the shirt but we were about the same size. I cuddled under the covers and Cerberus joined me. I had a sleep that was without nightmares, for which I was thankful for. I have some badass nightmares.

I woke up about 9am and meandered out of bed, but first I had to push Cery off me. In the nice, white, clean kitchen I found Taskmaster poking around. I don't think Sandi was up yet and that Tasky hadn't noticed me. I waltzed up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and glared at me. Somehow I knew. "Hello there! Aren't you my stalker buddy from two days ago?" I asked coolly.

He clenched and unclenched his fists.

**(Anger issues?)**

"Maybe Nightshade" Tasky practically spat out my mercenary name. It was my turn to glare. I didn't need to take this crap. But, you know me, I never walk away from a fight. I was about to come back with the most snarkiest, sarcastic response I had ever thought of, which featured him, My Little Ponies and some Captain America 'jammies that Alex talked to me about, but then Sandi walked in a light pink and purple dressing gown.

"Hello" she said groggily. She walked over to a counter and started making coffee. My anger dissipated and I asked for a cup of short black. It's the only way I like my coffee. Taskmaster stood there, glared some more and left without a word to Sandi or me. She looked at me, "Ari, did you piss Taskmaster off or something? 'Cause he's been pissed since yesterday, do you think he recognised you?" I nodded. She sighed, "So he knows who you really are huh? And I doubt there's little stopping him from telling the cops where you are now". She took a swig of her coffee.

"He won't. If the cops come they'll arrest you for aiding and abetting a fugitive and he doesn't want that" I grinned. "Even if he does, I'll hide you, beat him shitless and leave him for the cops". Sandi's eyebrows rose and she had another sip of her coffee and so did I. For a bit we were just standing there, drinking our coffee. Then we had showers and went to Agency X. Alex was already there and Inez came soon after we got there. I told Sandi to discreetly tell Alex about my status as a fugitive and about being Nightshade. Late afternoon, an old woman came in wanting to hire Agency X to fix a problem of hers. She was rich of course. Her request was a wee bit left field though. She wanted to hire Agency X to kill Taskmaster. Apparently Tasky killed her grandson and she wanted revenge. Eye for an eye stuff. I could sympathise with her. If someone even pulled a hair from Xander, Izzy or Cassie and I'll deal with them myself. The lady signed a contract and left. Deadpool made a cameo appearance. He's gonna be so pissed with that. Oh, he is already. Great. He was just bugging people and took over the TV with Golden Girls. He left an hour later talking about going to France for a job. Damn. I like France.

We then held a group meeting, Alex, Sandi and I revealed my Nightshade status to Inez, I officially joined the club and we decided that as my hazing ritual to take the hit on Taskmaster. Best. Day. Ever. Later that night I found and followed Taskmaster from the rooftops. I was wearing my old, reliable costume. Ever played or seen Assassin's Creed? Imagine that just black instead of white and slimmer. With a lot more hidden weapons. A lot more. He did a few hits, went to a few pubs and then went to an apartment building. I saw him enter a small room on the third floor. I could just hop unto the building and go through the window.

_(*This is way too easy*)_

**(It's a trap!)**

I had to agree with voices. This was too easy. I spent an extra half an hour checking all sides of the apartment building and the buildings surrounding it. I doubt he was this bad, to let anyone follow him this well. I tried to look through the window but he closed the curtains. Hot damn. I decided to go through with it. I dropped down and entered the building I went to the third floor. I knocked on the door and entered. Taskmaster was undressing and had already taken off his mask and shirt. "Hey there!" I started as I saw his face and chest. I just stood there as he glared at me. Well, I stood there with my mouth hanging open while he gave me the death glare of deathliness. He had golden eyes, dark brown hair, a well formed face and an exceptionally well formed chest. So sue me, I like my boys big, tall and strong. Cliché or not.

"Get out now" he said through clenched teeth. He was pissed. But I didn't care. He was hot. When he moved towards me I recognised him. He was Tony Masters, the youngest son of a wealthy matriarch. Very wealthy. Why the hell was he a merc? Tasky clenched his fists. If he wanted to finish that fight from early today, then game on. I clenched my fists too. We just stood there staring at each other.

I broke the silence. "Look, I'm gonna propose an idea. One you might like".

Tasky stopped. "I'm listening". Good man.

I grinned. "A lady came in today at Agency X, looking for someone to kill you. Now, this lady's rich and I suggest that we fake your death and split the money".

He was considering. "Have you told Alex and Sandi about this?"

My grin got wider. Almost Cheshire wide. "Nah, I came up with it on the spot".

Tasky slowly nodded and grinned as well. "Maybe we could get along well".

I nodded as well. "Maybe we could. Maybe we could".


End file.
